The Thessalonian
Epistles
God’s Great Faithfulness
2 Thessalonians 3:1-5
Lesson XXV
Written: August 12, 2005
2 Thessalonians 3:1-5
(1) Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the
Lord may have [free] course, and be glorified, even as
[it is] with you:
(2) And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and
wicked men: for all [men] have not faith.
(3) But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep [you] from evil.
(4) And we have confidence in the Lord touching you, that ye both do and will do the things which we command
you.
(5) And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God,
and into the patient waiting for Christ.
“Finally,
brethren, pray for us.” Paul not only
prayed for the saints, he asks for their prayers on his behalf.
Hebrews 13:18
(18) Pray for us: for we trust we have a good conscience,
in all things willing to live honestly.
Hebrews 13:18 We find the same words
repeated: “pray for us.”
But
what follows is most important. “… for we trust we have a good conscience, in all things
willing to live honestly.” Taking those
words into consideration we gather that we have no right to ask anyone to pray
for us, that is, as God’s people, if we are not willing to live honestly.
In
2 Thessalonians 3:1, the specific request for prayer is that “the word of the
Lord may have free course, and be glorified even as it is in you.” He asks for prayer that he may preach the
word unhindered.
Ephesians 6:19
(19) And for me, that utterance may be given unto me,
that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel,
When
concluding the book of Ephesians, he asks them to “pray for him that
utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known
the mystery of the gospel” (Ephesians 6:19).
In the proclamation of the gospel nothing is of more value than prayer. Yet when everything else has failed, that is
when we pray!
Acts 6:3-4
(3) Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men
of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom
we may appoint over this business.
(4) But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and
to the ministry of the word.
In
the days of the early Church the pattern for preaching was set down in the book
of Acts (Acts 6:3-4). They were to find
men to look after business so that the preachers could “give themselves
continually to prayer, and the ministry of the word”, not to programs and planning
meetings, but prayer meetings and ministry.
And evidently prayer had first place.
Seventy
years ago we had few programs in our Churches but we did have many prayer
meetings. We believed Proverbs 16:3 very
literally. “Commit thy works unto the
Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established.”
Proverbs 16:3
(3) Commit thy works unto the LORD, and thy thoughts
shall be established.
Paul
also asked for prayer “that (he) might be delivered from unreasonable and
wicked men, for all men have not faith.”
Men without faith are unfaithful men, therefore unreasonable men. Therefore does it not follow that men with
faith should show their faith by being both faithful and reasonable? Unfaithful men cannot be trusted, so Paul
continues: The Lord is faithful. He shall establish you. He shall keep you from evil.
.
The
Lord is faithful when men are not. He is
the one who “shall stablish you.” Writes
Said Warren W. Wiersbe: “We cannot have
confidence in ourselves, but we can have confidence in God for ourselves and
for others.”
1 Corinthians 1:8-9
(8) Who shall also confirm you unto the end, [that ye may
be] blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
(9) God [is] faithful, by whom ye were called unto the
fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
The
faithfulness of God is a theme in many Scriptures.
1 Corinthians 1:9 “God is faithful, by
whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Vernon
McGee says: “Verse 9 is probably the key verse in 1 Corinthians.”
In
verse 8, Paul had written of Jesus Christ “…who shall confirm you unto the
end…”
There
were problems in the Church at
Do
the Churches need more programs to correct the problems?
No,
the need is more of Christ.
We
don’t need more counselors, we need more of Christ. We do not remember the name of the preacher
who said “there never was a time when the Church had so many counselors and there
never was a time when it had more problems.”
We
don’t need better educated preachers by worldly professors, we need more of
Christ.
We
don’t need to depend on men, we need to learn more
about Jesus Christ.
He
will confirm. He is faithful. He has called his saints unto fellowship with
Himself.
We
have a letter that includes a personal testimony by a lady saved almost 60
years ago.
The
night she was saved, she said to my mother, “I want to be saved, but I’m afraid
I can’t hold out.”
My
mother replied: Jesus will hold you.”
She
did get saved and concluded her letter with these words, “I have never doubted
my salvation since….”
Charles
Hodge wrote: “God is faithful. One in
whom we may confide, one who will fulfill all his promises. The Apostles’ confidence in the steadfastness
and final perseverance of believers was founded neither on the strength of
their purpose to persevere, nor on any assumption that the principle of
religion in their hearts was indestructible, but simply on the fidelity of
God.”
Regarding
the subject of our security, it is not our faithfulness that is held in
question but God’s faithfulness. If you
live in doubt it is because you are doubting God.
Wrote
G.C. Morgan: “God is faithful. A brief, a blunt statement
that admits no question. God is
faithful. That means God is
trustworthy.”
1 Corinthians 10:13
(13) There hath no temptation taken you but such as is
common to man: but God [is] faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted
above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape,
that ye may be able to bear [it].
1 Corinthians 10:13 “But God is faithful, who will not suffer you
to be tempted above that ye are able, but will with the temptation make a way
to escape that ye may be able to bear it.”
Can we not trust Him?
2 Timothy 2:13
(13) If we believe not, [yet] he abideth
faithful: he cannot deny himself.
2 Timothy 2:13: “if we (believers) believe
not, yet He abideth faithful. He cannot deny himself.” Whenever we read this verse we are reminded
of a brother, now in Heaven, A.H. Gillett, who said: “There are two things that
God cannot do. He cannot die and He
cannot lie.”
1 Thessalonians 5:24
(24) Faithful [is] he that calleth
you, who also will do [it].
1 Thessalonians 5:24 “Faithful is he that calleth you who also will do it.” Here it is God who does the keeping.
Hebrews 10:23
(23) Let us hold fast the profession of [our] faith
without wavering; (for he [is] faithful that promised;)
Hebrews 10:23 “He is faithful that
promised.” Wrote W.R. Newell: “Our hope is built upon the faithfulness of God,
and not in anywise upon anything in ourselves.”
So
to the saints the appeal is made:
You be faithful because
the Lord has been and will be faithful to you.
And may he direct your hearts into
the love of God and patient waiting for Christ.
Titus 2:13
(13) Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious
appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus
Christ;
1 John 3:3
(3) And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.
We
are to live our lives “looking for that blessed hope…” (Titus 2:13).
The
more real our hope becomes to us, the more faithful we will become to Him.
For “every man that hath this hope in him purifieth
himself…”
(1 John 3:3).